The U.S. is not the only country worried about the possible use of chemical weapons. Intelligence officials in two countries told me recently that the Israeli government has twice come to the Jordanian government with a plan to take out many of Syria's chemical weapons sites. According to these two officials, Israel has been seeking Jordan's "permission" to bomb these sites, but the Jordanians have so far declined to grant such permission.

Of course, Israel can attack these sites without Jordanian approval (in 2007, the Israeli Air Force destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor), but one official told me that the Israelis are concerned about the possible repercussions of such an attack on Jordan. "A number of sites are not far from the border," he said, further explaining: "The Jordanians have to be very careful about provoking the regime and they assume the Syrians would suspect Jordanian complicity in an Israeli attack." Intelligence sources told me that Israeli drones are patrolling the skies over the Jordan-Syria border, and that both American and Israeli drones are keeping watch over suspected Syrian chemical weapons sites.

He went on to provide context of the Israeli request: "You know the Israelis -- sometimes they want to bomb right away. But they were told that from the Jordanian perspective, the time was not right." The Israeli requests were made in the last two months, communicated by Mossad intermediaries dispatched by Prime Minister Netanyahu's office, according to these sources. (I asked the Israeli embassy in Washington for comment on this, but received no answer.)

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The United States will not tolerate any use of chemical weapons in Syria and will act quickly if that threat appears imminent, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

"This is a red line for the United States," Clinton said. “I'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice to say we are certainly planning to take action."

Syrian government forces have bombed rebel positions in the frontier town of Ras al-Ain, killing at least 12 people according to opposition activists, and prompting Turkey to scramble fighter jets along the border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six of those killed by the air raids on the Syrian town's Mahatta neighbourhood on Monday were rebel fighters and that 30 people were wounded.

Heavy bursts of anti-aircraft fire shook the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, which abuts Ras al-Ain, sending residents fleeing for cover.

Columns of smoke rose up from the Syrian side and ambulances rushed the wounded to hospital.

Security sources said Turkish F-16 jets were scrambled from their base in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir after the air raids on the rebel Free Syrian Army's headquarters in Ras al-Ain, in a warning to Damascus not to breach Turkish territory.

U.S. intelligence is concerned about the Syrian government's intent regarding its vast chemical weapons stockpiles after what one senior U.S. official described as "worrying signs" of activity in "the last few days."

"There are concerns the regime may be considering use of chemical weapons" the official told CNN. But the official stressed that the Obama administration has not come to a final conclusion about Syria's intent.

"This isn't just about movement, but about potential intent to make certain chemical weapons ready for use." The official admitted it is not entirely clear to the United States what the Syrian government is up to, or if this latest development was ordered specifically by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The United States will not tolerate any use of chemical weapons in Syria and will act quickly if that threat appears imminent, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

"This is a red line for the United States," Clinton said. “I'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice to say we are certainly planning to take action."

According to the Kremlin’s Middle East envoy Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian emergency services have reserved several planes to evacuate Russian nationals from Syria.These people are officials, engineers and Russian wives.

Thanks for the heads up Doorbert!!But I doubt the will use it on there own people.Only in self defence!! The big question is if the US/NATO or Israel would take action and do a preemptive attack if there is a lot of intel about movement on the ground with chemical weapons?!